


Awakening

by ImpossibleKat



Category: Beetlejuice - All Media Types, Beetlejuice - Perfect/Brown & King
Genre: F/M, Fluff and Angst, Friends to Lovers, Memory Loss, Musicalbabes, One Shot, Temporary Amnesia, beetlebabes
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-09
Updated: 2020-05-09
Packaged: 2021-03-03 02:27:57
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,271
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24097324
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ImpossibleKat/pseuds/ImpossibleKat
Summary: Time is slipping away for Lydia Deetz, and she is forgetting about Beetlejuice. The memories are fading and she is moving on. All that is left is the ring on her finger, and a pain that reminds her of what she had done to lose him.
Relationships: Beetlejuice & Lydia Deetz, Beetlejuice/Lydia Deetz
Comments: 10
Kudos: 52





	Awakening

**Author's Note:**

> Hey everyone, this is a BeetleBabes fic that was written off a Prompt given to me by BD_Z . Check out her content, she is an amazing author and she has the power to make me cry.

A week had passed since she had killed her husband. It was strange when she thought about it because he was dead when she met him. But that small breath of life that he had taken in was quickly snuffed out by her own hand in order to send him away. So now he was gone, and he was alright with it. Then why did she still feel alone? 

Lydia Deetz is a young girl who had lost her mom at such a fragile age, but now was surrounded by family who adored her. She even had ghost parents who loved and adored her, but there felt like something was missing. The stink of dead leaves, whiskey, smoke and mold was gone from the house, but she had missed it. She would often find herself coming home from Miss Shannon’s school for girls and running her fingers along the faded chalk along the walls where he had vanished. 

A vision quest he called it? Was he really never going to come back? She would stare at the door that would open to the Netherworld, and hope that somehow it would open back up and the first words she would hear would come from his broken and foul mouth. But he never came back. Of course she wondered if calling his name would work, but there was something inside her that was frightened if it would be successful. 

If it worked, and he did come back, would he then be mad? If she tore him away from his quest in the Netherworld then would he just be upset with her? Not to mention she was the one who killed him and basically forced him to go back to being dead. 

Staring at the wedding ring that was on her right hand, Lydia felt remorse and the solitude within her heart grew larger. The Maitlands would often ask her why she would lock herself in her bedroom, or why she even kept the ring on in the first place. The simple answer was that she was still a child, and had an imagination that would bring her back to those three blissful days she spent with the ghost with the most. 

She would ask the cold air if it was wrong to wish he were back, thinking it was dead mom watching over her, or the demon leaving a lingering presence. In the night, she would wake up and stare at her vanity and swear that she could see his yellow piercing eyes gazing back at her. Lydia would leap from the bed and run straight to the mirror, reaching out to the glass and begging that she still wasn’t dreaming. 

“Beetlejuice?” She said his name once, and she could feel her whole body tense up. Repeating it once more she needed to know if he really was there. 

“Beetlejuice.” The mirror no longer reflected Lydia, but a world that looked mystical and lively. Roads that would stretch over a vast desert with sandworms gazing at the world above them. It seemed to be like a metropolis within her mirror, and she could reach into it if she so desired. She wanted to fall in. If he was in there, she wanted to see him again. 

“Bee-” Two arms wrapped around her waist and pulled her away from the vanity. Blinking a few times Lydia had to rub her eyes to see who it was that ripped her away from her view of the world beyond her mirror. “Adam?” 

“What are you doing?” He asked a bit sternly with his hands at his sides. He had his glasses pushed up, and he looked like he just got out of a cat fight. 

“I could ask you the same thing. Why are you wondering around at night?” Lydia crossed her arm and pouted at him. 

“Lydia, I’m dead. I can’t sleep anymore. I mean, me and Barbara can ‘rest’ but we can’t really sleep. We are eternally sleeping. Anyways, I was walking past your room after getting some orange juice and heard you say… his name.” Adam looked as if he just said a swear word. 

Shaking her head and gesturing to her mirror, she tried to relieve her ghost dad that the demon wasn’t there. “Relax. I said his name, but nothing happened. See?” 

Adam’s head looked at the mirror and saw nothing reflect back at him. Not even himself. Just Lydia’s back, and her room that held them. “Why would you say his name at a mirror?” He asked while scratching at his head. 

“Cause I thought I saw him in there.” She plainly said to Adam. There is no use lying to a dead parent who can float through your walls and see everything you do. 

Adam’s eyes grew large and it looked like they almost glowed for a brief moment. Was he angry? “If you see him, don’t say anything! Not even his name! He tried to kill us. He tried to kill Barbara!” Pausing for a moment, he saw the wedding band that was on her right hand to represent a widowed bride. Reaching for it and holding up her hand, he gestured to her ring. “He tried to marry you!” 

“He did marry me.” Lydia said, tearing her hand away from Adam and turning her back on him as she ran her finger over the red gem. “You forget that we did get married… and then I killed him.” 

Adam could hear a broken sound coming from Lydia as she said ‘killed’, almost like she was about to cry. “You’re still upset you killed him? Lydia, he was a demon. He had to leave the house. It was the right thing.” 

Turning around and looking at Adam with frustrated eyes that threatened to tear over, her voice raised and shouted. “How do you know it was the right thing? You’re already dead, you can’t murder anyone! I’m alive. I was going to kill myself, and he stopped me. Where were you and Barbara? You showed up pretty late to that. I killed him, and he’s gone now.” She stalked over to her door and swung it open, gesturing for him to leave. 

“Lydia… I just..” Adam started. 

“I don’t want to hear it. I am allowed to dwell on my past and hate the things I’ve done. I’m allowed to miss the friends I’ve made just like I miss my mom who isn’t here anymore. So just… let me mourn.” Lydia looked away from Adam, in fear that she might have struck a chord. At this point, she was more angry than sad.

Adam walked out the door and didn’t protest any longer to Lydia. No doubt he’ll tell Barbara, Delia and her dad at this point. They were practically a small group that shared everything with each other now that they shared a house. When Adam left, she closed her door and quickly ran back into her bed to cover her entire body with her sheets. 

“I killed my best friend… I’m allowed to be sad.” She held her wedding ring close to her heart and started whimpering. “I’m allowed to be sad he’s not here. I’m allowed to feel.” 

Her mind rushed back to the feeling of the art tearing through rotting flesh and muscle. The ripping and crushing feeling reverberated all through her fingers, giving her a sense of disgust. And the words he had spoken echoed in her head.  _ That feels… meaningful. _

“How is killing you supposed to feel meaningful you dumbass? If it’s so meaningful then just come back here and mean something to my life again.” She muttered as she dug her face into her sheets. “What am I supposed to feel?” 

* * *

  
  


The downtown bar; where most young adults make bad mistakes that they’ll most likely regret in the morning. Lydia Deetz had gone off to college and returned to New York to pursue a degree in Photography. It’s been years since she last thought of her wedding day, or of the day she even moved into the house on top the hill of Winter River Connecticut. It was all blurred with the endless amount of assignments, countless sleepless nights, and of course the drinks. 

“Another! She needs another! Look at her, she’s still sitting up straight!” A laughing voice was patting Lydia on the shoulder and ringing up her finger as she gestured to the bartender to bring another drink. Lydia merely looked at her friend and shook her head. 

“No… I’ve already had like… this many.” She held up her right hand and stuck out her tongue. 

“I’ve never seen that before? Is it your high school class ring or something?” Her friend squeaked as she grabbed Lydia’s right hand. 

There was fog blurring the details of where she had gotten the ring, but she looked at the red gem and simply grinned. “I think a guy gave it to me.” Lydia simply laughed as she looked back at the ring. 

“A guy? Sweetie, why are you wearing a ring that a guy gave you when you are dating Michael? If he found out that you were wearing something another guy gave you, he’ll blow a gasket!” The girl sipped at her long island ice tea and began to laugh into the ice imagining the sight. The bartender came over and plopped a Jack and Coke in front of Lydia. 

“On the house. Along with this water. Slow down ladies.” Was what the barkeep said as he walked away. His voice was a bit hoarse, but calming all the same. Lydia’s head snapped to look at the man and stared at him for a little bit. 

“Has the barkeep always had… that accent?” She asked while pointing at him. “Mackenzie has he always had that accent?” She turned to her friend whose name was sloppily said. 

“Hmm… Actually I don’t recognize him. Hey Hun, can you come back really quick. My friend here thinks you’re a snack and she loves your accent!” Mackenzie spoke up while laughing and swirling around her drink in her hand. Lydia pushed her gently in a playful way, any more of a shove and she might have fallen off her bar stool. 

The bartender turned his head and looked at the pair with confused eyes. He came back to them and gave a polite smile. “Wow, you guys are far gone. I might as well just close your bills now, right?” 

Lydia nodded as she looked at her full glass, then back at the man in front of her. He looked so familiar but she couldn’t put her finger on where from. 

“So you’re interested in my accent?” He spoke out with a bit of a laugh while working behind the register, pulling up the girls tabs. “Honestly it comes and goes. Don’t know where I was born, but I know I am more of just a traveler.” 

Mackenzie gasped and pointed at him with a shaky finger. “You travel?” She seemed to like what she saw. 

“Well I guess you can say that. This is actually my first time out in months. Maybe even years. Time just escapes me.” He admitted pulling out a receipt and handing it to the pair. 

“What do you mean your first time out? Don’t you work here?” Lydia asked while staring at him. He was certainly blurry, but she could see his hair was a dark brown, and his eyes had a small yellow tint but they appeared brown. He had a nice beard and he looked relatively soft. Soft like someone you could cuddle for hours and never want to let go. 

“No. Anyways, that’s a nice ring you have. You said a boy gave that to you?” He simply said while looking at her ring and gesturing to it. 

“Huh? Wait… This?” She looked down back at her ring and it almost seemed to glow. There was warmth coming from it and it was shooting some sort of memory into Lydia’s mind.

A man in a pinstripe suit. Green hair and a hoarse voice. Terribly funny guy, but also smelled awful. But he was lonely, and had a sense of kindness if you were able to get past the point that he was “dead.” She said allowed as she looked at the ring. “He’s dead. The boy that gave me this ring is dead.” 

Looking up the bartender was no longer there. Mackenzie was face down on the bar and her entire glass of Long Island Iced Tea was empty. Lydia merely shook her head and just sighed as she grabbed the receipt. Trying to read over it the best she could, there were words written on it that made her heart skip a few beats. 

“Bio-exorcist.. Betelgeuse.” Her head snapped up and she looked around frantically. It couldn’t be, he couldn’t be here. She stood up and tried to regain some sort of balance, but Mackenzie was quick to grab her hand. 

“Oh, you good? Time to wake up from lala land hun. I think we’ve had enough.” Her voice was low and she had a motherly gaze that seemed calming. 

Nodding her head, Lydia agreed. The memories were blocked by something, but her fingers still couldn’t stop playing with the band on her right hand. Why was it that she still wore this thing if she got it from someone else? 

After the two girls paid for their actual receipt and left the bar, Lydia’s phone buzzed and she saw she had gotten a message from her boyfriend, Michael. 

_ “Fun ladies night?”  _ it read. Lydia snorted as both she and Mackenzie were walking back to their dorm. It was a strike of luck that their dorm was close to a bar. They were practically regulars after their twenty first birthdays. 

“ _ Can’t text, too drunk.”  _ Was a message she sent to him, followed by a black heart emoji. He sent back an eye rolling emoji and a hand waving. He’ll most likely message her in the morning that he was going to bring her some hangover food. Thank god for men and their amazing cures for hangovers. 

“You texting Michael, hun?” Mackenzie asked while looking at her text. “Make sure to tell him you have a ring from another man. He’ll probably tell you to sell it so you can pay for that apartment you two want. “ 

“I don’t know about that Kenz. I think I’ll keep it.” Lydia said as she rolled her finger once more over the gem. 

“Why? Another guy gave it to you, right? You and Michael have been pretty serious for a while now.” Mackenzie was right. She and Michael have been going steady since Freshman year, and it was almost time to graduate. They were even talking about getting a studio apartment together somewhere in the city. 

“Well… It was from a guy who meant a lot to me. It’s meaningful. Yeah… this feels meaningful.” She smiled at her friend as they locked arms to keep balance. “I feel it means more.. But.. right now it’s just meaningful.” 

* * *

  
  


“You look absolutely beautiful.” Delia said as she was straightening the white veil behind Lydia. “You remind me of myself when I was marrying your father. However… Less drunk and tripping on that mermaid dress Barbara said would look cute on me.” 

“You were hot and you knew it!” Barbara said while raising a glass of champagne and coming up to Delia and Lydia. “But yes Lydia…. You look absolutely radiant.” 

Lydia looked at herself in the mirror and saw someone she never thought she’d see. A girl reflected back at her in a white wedding dress that made her look like a princess. This had to be some sort of fantasy that she couldn’t wake up from. A nightmare, or just a dream, she couldn’t tell quite yet. But she did look beautiful. 

“I’m getting married.” She said while looking at her reflection. Barbara and Delia squealed when she said it. 

“Yes! And we’re so happy you decided to do it here! We wouldn’t want Barbara and Adam to miss it.” Delia said as she hugged Barbara tightly. There was a lot of giggling between two maternal figures, and Lydia could only smile. 

The three had made a toast, and cheered that this was the day they had been waiting for. Eternal blessings and blah blah blah. Just as Delia was leaving the room to go down and help with the ceremony, Barbara stayed and stared at her daughter she never had for a bit longer. 

“Really… you are beautiful. But there is something that we need to fix.” She said as she came over to Lydia and grabbed her right hand pulling it up and pointing at the ring. “This needs to come off. You aren’t a widow anymore.” 

“A widow?” Lydia tilted her head in confusion. She thought the ring was simply a gift from a guy who died. When did she get married to him? 

Barbara’s eyebrows raised as she noticed a look of confusion on Lydia’s face. “Yeah.. You married Beetlejuice when you were like… sixteen. Don’t you remember?” 

“Beetlejuice?” Lydia spoke the name once, and something had crept inside her mind. Flooding memories both happy and sad. Dead mom, and the wish to join her. A man, a dead bloated zebra on the roof feeling the same pain as her. They paired up and frightened practically all of the town. He almost had killed Barbara and made Lydia marry him. She had killed him, and he left. 

“Beetlejuice!” She screamed it a second time and began to freak out once the memories flooded in. Her chest was rising quickly, and she couldn’t find her breath. “He-He… He’s dead.. I killed him… What? Why… Barbara why?” Lydia tore her veil off and threw it to the side of the room. 

Looking at her widows ring, the tears began to flow. Tears that she didn’t know she could shed at this point. As a child she couldn’t have these feelings. Growing older, you learn the darkness of the world, and all the sadness that comes with it. The pain of losing someone, but then remembering them a second time breaks you down. She thought she had pushed all those memories away. The memories of losing her mom just so she could smile once more. The memories of meeting countless dead people in the Netherworld so she would never take her life for granted. The memories of feeling horror as she killed her best friend so she could make it through another day feeling like a normal human being. She was never normal to begin with. She had always been strange and unusual. 

Barbara was staring at Lydia as she was having a mental breakdown, and wrapped her arms around her. “Lydia.. I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to bring back the memories. Please, let’s just think about today. You’re getting married to Michael!” 

“I am married!” Lydia cried out in fear, tearing away from Barbara’s touch. 

“Lydia you were married. It wasn’t a real marriage in the first place.” Barbara’s voice was still, and she was trying to keep Lydia calm, but it was like talking to the child who lost her mother all those years ago. 

“Green card right? He wanted to live, and then I killed him.” Lydia’s voice was low as she continued to stare at the red gem. “I killed him.” 

“He was already dead.” Barbara reminded her. “He was going to kill us.” 

Lydia shook her head. “How do we know that for sure? He never tried to kill me. He could have but he didn’t. He was… so lonely. He just wanted someone.” Lydia began to toy with the tool on her dress, remembering the red one she wore all those years ago. 

Barbara had a worried look on her face, and she couldn’t bring herself to keep up this conversation with Lydia alone. “I’m going to get your father. Please just try to keep breathing, okay sweet pea?” Barbara vanished from the room, leaving Lydia with her thoughts. 

“The loneliest guy I ever met.” Wiping her eyes, she moved her eyes to the engagement ring on her left hand. “And you… you’re alive with countless people to love you. You’ve never been alone. You can find love another way, but it can’t be me.” Lydia took in a sharp breath and pulled the ring off. 

Standing up, she looked at her old vanity and moved her widows ring to her left hand where the engagement ring once sat. “You bastard... “ Lydia said quietly as she approached it holding a small stool. “You’ve haunted my life in the darkness, and the shadows. Never leaving my mind, but just remaining hidden.” 

She stared at herself once more in the beautiful white wedding dress, and shook her head. “This is not me.” Her balcony doors had swung open violently with a gust of wind blowing through, causing Lydia’s hair to become undone and fall to her shoulders. “Glad you can hear me, you asshole. Then get ready to hear this.” 

She took a deep breath, and began to say his name. “Beetlejuice.” 

The mirror gave off a hum, and the wind sounded like it was laughing. 

“Beetlejuice.” Lydia raised the stool over her shoulder, ready to smash the mirror into bits. She could see the other world that laid beyond the glass, and she so desperately wished to join them. To go past this menagerie and be with him. 

“Beetlejuice!” With the third cry, her stool shattered the mirror, and gusts of green and purple light had surrounded her. Her dress was being dyed in a crimson red, and her whole body felt as if it was alive again. She was waking up to the reality she wanted. 

A hand reached out from the shattered glass, and Lydia could feel herself hesitate for a moment. “So I had to choose you?” She said allowed as she reached out to grasp the hand. 

There was no response, but nonetheless she grasped the hand and was pulled into the world on the other side of the looking glass. She felt as if she was falling, but was secured tightly to something, or someone. Finally she had opened her eyes and saw she was in the arms of the demon she had killed all those years ago. 

“You could say you had to choose me. I just wanted to make sure you really did love me or something. Turns out you chose me over the breather, and that’s enough to make this old dead guy's heart almost beat.” He said as he squeezed her tightly. 

She gave out a huff as he squeezed her, and when they finally landed on the world which was the _Neitherworld_ , Lydia looked around like it was something entirely new from the Netherworld. “It’s… So much more…”

“Alive? No… Lively? No that’s not it… Dead. That’s the one.” Beetlejuice said as he snapped his fingers at her. 

“No, it’s more colorful and vibrant. Like you guys are able to exist here in peace after dying.” She said looking back at him. 

“Well yeah. I’ve been here most of the time just waiting for you to call my name. Which you didn’t do by the way. You almost did one day, but then I guess not because Adam ‘suddenly grew a pair’ said no.” He responded. 

Lydia laughed and then just looked at him tilting her head. “You came to me though… didn’t you?” 

“Yeah… I had a ticket to get out for a day and I wanted to see what the wifey was up to. Turns out you had a boyfriend, and you could drink like a fucking sailor!” Beetlejuice pointed at her right hand to see that the ring was no longer there. 

“You bitch, you didn’t take it off did you?” He asked in a panic reaching for her hand. 

There was endless laughter coming from Lydia as she showed him her left hand. “No dummy. Look.” She flashed his ring which now sat on her wedding finger. “If I’m going to choose you over a breather, then I might as well just dedicate myself to you.” 

“Wait… Does that mean-” He was interrupted by Lydia smashing her lips against his. She really didn’t care that he tasted like dead leaves, and smoke, but this is what she really wanted to do. She wanted to kiss her creepy old guy and finally seal the marriage. 

Pulling back, she looked at his eyes which were wide and he was still trying to find the right words to say until he just shrugged and said “Fuck it.” And kissed her once more. Dipping her and kissing her deeply, he cherished the moment he could finally hold her like this. She was close to him, and he could feel complete again after losing his scarecrow. 

Pulling back with a pop, Lydia laughed and booped his nose. “I’ve missed you Beej.” She caressed his cheek and gave him a small peck. “Glad I finally was able to wake up after forgetting all those years.” 

Beetlejuice smiled at her and nodded. “Glad you realized I was the more handsome one.” 

“Oh… Shut up.” She said laughing as he put her back to a standing position. “But yeah… You are pretty cute for a dead guy.” 

Grabbing her left hand and kissing the finger which now had his wedding ring on it, he looked up at her with warm eyes. “Hey Lyds.” 

“Hmm?” 

“Love yah Lyds.” 

  
  


**Author's Note:**

> Yes, I did reference several inside jokes between me and a couple friends. If they get it, they get it. If they don't I know they'll fight me later. Also, I'm writing another fic with Mackenzie in it, that's where she's from! If you want to see more of her, go check out 'Last Demon to Sing'. I update it every Monday *hopefully*. 
> 
> Thank you for reading!


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